Sleepless Mornings, Long Evenings
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Some nights, it is impossible for Cat Noir or Ladybug to sleep. Those nights, interestingly enough, bring two people together in a way that seems almost surreal. *Inspired off of the double prompt for Day Four of Love Square Fluff Week, 2019.*


More often than Adrien would care to admit, he couldn't sleep. He felt the weighty draw of the world, and with every hint of pressure or superficiality, he crumbled like an overused wad of tissues. When those evenings rolled around he couldn't sleep, no matter how often Cat Noir jumped across rooftops, ran until his legs wanted to give out, and got shaky. No matter how many physics problems he's ran through his head on sleepless nights.

It comes as no surprise that when Ladybug passes by, he's still up. He's leaning against his open window, looking out at Paris, wanting to run, but not feeling up to it, when she spots him. Ladybug stumbles to a rather unsteady stop and just looks at him, before making up her mind and coming right on over.

"Did you sleep last night, Adri-" She cuts herself off, before noticeably deciding to complete his name, "en." She must have determined that his name was public knowledge and not just the result of secret identities knowing one another. Adrien doesn't want to think of what that means, because right now, it feels obvious that there is a wall between them.

"Have you slept at all?" She's leaning haphazardly against his window, enough that he backs up in order to think straight. Ladybug, that close to him, is not good for his tendency to answer questions. She merely blushes at noticing that he backed up and realizing that she'd came too close.

"No." Adrien bites his lip, almost ready to unleash his problems on her, but not yet sure if he could or even should.

"Oh." Ladybug sighs, "I haven't either." The admission takes him so much by surprise that he has to look up at her. The only signs of her blatant honesty are the few strands of hair that have fallen out of place from her pigtails and the tired look that haunts her eyes. Adrien silently marvels that even sleep deprivation couldn't kill her beauty; it somehow humanizes the civilian part of her life, making him intensely aware that there is a girl behind that mask, and she can be just as tired as he is, and just as stressed too.

His heart pangs at the mere thought of that. "Is the running helping?" He sincerely hopes that it helps to calm her mind down, that it's like those rare nights, when Cat Noir can finally collapse in a heap on his bed and pass out before he can even utter the words to cancel his transformation. He always wakes up those mornings as Adrien.

"Not really." Ladybug looked back up at Paris, encased in the darkness of early morning before she hopped in next to him.

"Oh." Adrien's at a loss for words; how do you properly empathize with the girl of your dreams that doubles as your best friend when you know exactly what she's going through, because you've been there, but she doesn't know all three of those things. It was tough to articulate into anything that made any sense.

"Do you want to watch the sunrise together, since we're both already up?" She asks, and the question comes out more tentative than assured, as he watches her peek up at the still dark sky. He knows that tonight is one of those fruitless nights where his mind won't shut down and his body won't collapse in exhaustion. She clearly feels the same way, so why not? At least it would add color and joy to his sure to be exhausting day.

"Sure." Adrien peeks back up at the superhero at his side, still in awe of her. He knows without a shadow of a doubt that she struggles just as he does. He'd seen her weakest moment, and her pushing through it bravely. He'd been there to witness many disasters by her side, and knew that the girl behind the mask, whoever she was, was just as incredible as the woman by his side.

Ladybug met his gaze with a smile back at him, before turning to the sky, patiently awaiting that first flash of color, the brilliant light that will dance each and every hue of its beauty throughout the sky. Already, Adrien's anticipating the joy of an early morning sunrise, warmth emanating between his arm and hers from where they stand side by side. It's dark for at least another fifteen to twenty minutes later, and then the dark of the night lightens to a deep blue and slowly the sun rises over Paris.

Belatedly, Adrien realizes that his bedroom doesn't have a bad view as the reds and oranges that slowly take over the sky reflect off of tall buildings, shimmering in each and every window, turning the ordinary buildings temporarily into stained glass windows, reflecting, first red and orange, followed quickly by a light purple and pink. Each color seems to heighten the effect of the rising morning.

The sun beams down on them and warms tired limbs just as being beside her encourages a kind of steady warmth from the two of them. Having company on this quiet morning means so much more than being alone, as they bear witness to the sky's slow change to a neat and pretty blue, partially encased in the early morning clouds that seem striking in their paleness against an ever changing sky.

Adrien longs to reach out and hold Ladybug's hand as finally Paris lights up into a pretty, sky blue, and the bright, exhilirating colors are hidden behind the ordinary ones. Only now as the sky reveals the brightness of day does Ladybug look tired. She's silent, and her eyes are finally sinking shut, so Adrien nudges her gently to wake her up, ignoring the static that lights across his fingers.

"You better go home, before someone misses you." Adrien shifts awkwardly, even though he knows that once she leaves his room, he'll feel cold again and alert as could be. Yet, right now, he feels safe and feels as if the stress and anxiety officially melted off of him like a popsicle in the Parisian sun. He has to stifle a yawn even now.

"I know." She sighs, body seeming to slowly creak as she moves to leave the same way that she came in, "See you around?"

It feels almost liberating to know that she's just as disappointed about leaving as he is to see her go.

"See you around, Ladybug." He lifts up a hand to wave, and manages to catch a tender smile shot his way before she's off, swinging through Paris towards her home and probably whatever she'd have to accomplish today.

* * *

Two months of mostly fine nights, and Adrien can't help but transform. He's stressed, and the sun hasn't set yet, but he knows that he's just beginning to run. Cat Noir darts across Parisian rooftop to Parisian rooftop, anticipating jelloed legs, if only to finally be able to collapse too tired to think. He rushes across rooftops, eager to disappear in the still humid sun while avoiding any place that might lead him to currently unwelcome interviews or picture opportunities with fans.

Normally, he thrills over brightening every fan of his' very day. Today, he can't be bothered. Cat Noir nearly trips and lands on Marinette's balcony. Glancing up to see the raven haired girl gazing out at Paris, looking noticeably less stressed than he is. A dark thought of 'she has a perfect life and wouldn't understand' flitters through his mind before guilt replaces it, and he stays against his first impulse.

"Cat Noir?" Blue eyes peek up at him, and something in his heart shifts. He feels just a tad lighter, as if somehow she can see him, not just as the superhero that everyone admires, but as someone who is suddenly suffering right now.

"At your service." He bows, knowing that it's a bit stiff, and his shoulders are aching at the gesture. He doesn't feel up to it, even as he smiles, woodenly at her, a little too dull to even account for his model smiles.

"Cat Noir," She changes it from a question to a call for his attention, "Are you okay?"

It hits him out of the blue, and so he leans slightly to feel the steady weight of her balcony against his back. Anything to ease the tremendous shock of it.

"I-I'm..." He's going to say, 'fine,' but it hurts to lie to her, "I'm a bit overwhelmed." It felt like an understatement, but he had no idea how to fix up his words to where they sounded just right.

"Oh." Marinette frowns, "Do you want to talk about some of it?" He realizes that she's watching her words, not wanting to cross boundaries that would force him to reveal his identity to her. The gesture is sweet, and his heart beams from somewhere in his chest, despite itself.

"Sure." Cat Noir shifts, wondering what to say first and what he could say, "I have a lot riding on me all the time, a lot of responsibility." He sighed, letting the air rush out of his chest. "I can't just relax for a moment, and today, was bad."

"How bad?" Marinette leans against his side, and it somehow grounds him against the storm that seems to rush up from his heart through all of his veins and arteries.

"Really bad." Cat Noir stared at the sky, off in some remote, blue corner, rather than at the end that the sun shined brightly from. "I don't get to talk to my father much. He's busy a lot, but today, we sort of fought." He wondered if there was a better word for it. It always stung in it's wake, and today, he'd felt like screaming and hollering until his lungs gave out, and he couldn't breathe.

All bottled up emotions had to go somewhere, and most often they flew like bottle rockets outside of his chest after a while, free to guage just how far they actually went. It felt really bad today, like way worse than normal.

"I'm stressed out and busy and a little scared." He deflated; sometimes being Cat Noir involved more fear than cheerful excitement though he loved it most of the time, "And I think I messed up. My father tried, I think, and I kind of lost it. I can't calm down, either. I've been running too hard. I don't know how to stop it, and my heart's pounding pretty hard. I want to be calm, and I doubt I'll be able to be calm long enough to sleep, either." Cat Noir suddenly stopped; he'd probably said too much. He doubted that anyone wanted to hear his pitiful ramble, especially not someone who was as full of joy and love as Marinette is.

"Oh." Marinette placed a hand on his arm, "I doubt I can really help, but I'm here for you. Just, come visit. I won't ever turn you away." Her voice is soft as if she's lost in thought, and she doesn't quite know what else to say.

"I know that it probably won't help, but do you want to watch the sunset together?" Marinette's biting her lip as if doubting her own answer. Cat Noir thinks back to that beautiful morning with Ladybug by his side watching from the Agreste mansion as Paris lit up in the early morning light.

"Sure." Cat Noir glances back up at the sky, witnessing the ever so slightly darker blue sky, as sky blue melted into a much darker, sturdier blue. Marinette stayed close, and he could feel the gentle warmth between them.

The sky was enveloped in brighter colors, melding with the gorgeous reds and oranges that danced across the windows of nearby buildings, noticeably not nearly as many windows as when he'd overlooked the sunrise from his bedroom. Each hint and tone of color threw light across the buildings, reds and oranges finally deepening with the dark color of the sky until they could see the faintest of stars in the night sky.

The dim orange cast of light pollution dulling the darkness of the night sky and overshadowing the stars up above, yet something in Cat Noir's heart had come loose, and he relaxed beside Marinette and appreciated the beauty around him that pushed both him and Marinette into quiet attentiveness.

Cat Noir can barely believe the nightly transformation the sky overgoes right above Paris even as he peeks back at the girl beside him, who let a gentle smile come across her face. Suddenly though he knows that the stress won't just wash away when he goes home, he feels a tender bit of encouragement to go home and face another day.

Eventually, something will call his attention back to a busy schedule, but he savors the friendship of the girl beside him who was willing to listen to his pain filled ramble and willing to gaze upon the sunset with him by her side. Cat Noir feels that little steady warmth in his heart and knows that when he leaves her side and blends fully into the shadow of night, he won't want to move away from this spot next to her.


End file.
